American eskimo dog questions?

okay so our last dog died this summer and my family wants another dog. our last dog was an alaskan malamute so we wanted a smaller dog but not to small. we are considering an american eskimo dog. we have gone to pet stores to play with them but plan to buy them from a breeder.i was just wondering if anyone has had an american eskimo dog as a pet and what they thought of them. the one we played with was an "Miniature american eskimo" does this mean that the are the runts of the litter or are they bred that way? thank you guys so much!